Rumours have been swirling for quite some time regarding a potential remaster for Red Dead Redemption. The game originally launched over twelve years ago on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and followed the exploits of ex-outlaw John Marston as he hunts down his former gang members. The sequel, launched in 2018, showcased John's gang during its glory years and ties closely into the events of the first game. As such, fans have been clamouring for a rerelease of Red Dead Redemption to bring it more in line with modern gameplay and visuals.
Back in 2021, our sister site Push Square reported that a remaster of Red Dead Redemption was being planned, but its release could depend on the success of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy: The Definitive Edition. Launched on Switch and other platforms last year, the remastered trilogy sold well, shipping over 10 million copies, but was severely criticised by the media and players alike for its shoddy visuals and multiple bugs at launch.
Now, it seems that Rockstar Games has decided not to push forward with its plans to remaster Red Dead Redemption. According to reliable insider Tez2 (thanks, VGC), a remaster for the game was on the cards a few years back, along with 2008's GTA IV, but these have now been scrapped.
Now, the key thing here is that Tez2 states that the reception to the GTA Trilogy might have been a factor in the decision... Might. Despite the poor reception, the compilation managed to ship an extraordinary number of copies, proving to be a commercial success if not necessarily a critical one. So this reasoning is likely just speculation at this stage.
Whether such a remaster was ever considered for the Switch is another matter entirely, but it seems that a rerelease of the iconic Western title is now unlikely on any platform, regardless. Back in 2018, ex-Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime stated that he would "love" to see Red Dead Redemption 2 on the Switch, so perhaps it's best we don't tell him this sad news. Sorry, Reggie.
Do you think Red Dead Redemption or GTV IV will ever see the light of day on Switch? Let us know in the comments below.
[source twitter.com, via videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 51
Wish they would at least do a basic port to modern consoles, but I guess they can choose which way they spend their money.
That sucks, would of loved RDR1 on switch
Poor reception? What do you expect when you churn out a pile of ****
Did they ever iron out all the issues with the GTA trilogy already on Switch, or is that game still a buggy mess?
Were Grove Street Games contracted for these again? I'd speculate they'd realised that they couldn't rely on a team of that size to a project of that scale.
Well, after the GTA remaster, demaster, remaster trilogy of errors was such a mess.
Yes it sold well, but their names were dragged through the dirt.
To be fair I am not surprised.
You get as much out as you put in.
And they didn't put enough into the GTA Remastered Trilogy, simple as.
The only people who should be remastering games are the teams that originally developed the games. More often than not, remastering projects given to outside no-name development studios produce poor results.
Of course, they're not typically going to do that because A-team resources are better utilised producing new games. Cases like Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition are an unusual exception.
They’re only interested when they think they can cut corners and get away with it.
This seems a bit bogus. The trilogy was (quite rightly) panned but it sold really well and Rockstar even said it "significantly exceeded" expectations back in Feb.
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/gtas-remaster-trilogy-has-significantly-exceeded-expectations-with-up-to-10m-sales/
Good. Trilogy was a mess.
Honestly all technical issues aside, they probably couldn't even contract all of that music again and to me that was a huge part of those games. It isn't even worth the purchase without the full soundtracks.
When you give us three mobile games that run worse then on my phone what do you expect?
At last GTA and Red Dead would run great on Switch and not be bad ports of a port.
Shame Rockstar doesn't like money.
@Rob3008
Rockstar realise that they've burned their audience and betrayed their trust. The consequences of that are the next remaster they publish will sell poorly, regardless of its quality.
This isn't an unusual trend with publishing games; Devil May Cry 2 was a best seller for the series, based on the critical acclaim of the first game.
Devil May Cry 3, despite being one of the most acclaimed games in the series, didn't sell as strongly due to how panned Devil May Cry 2 was.
I had respected rockstar for a long time, in fact they are the only reason I have owned a non nintendo console. I wanted to play their games so bought a PS2, which I only owned all the rockstar games and a couple of pro evo soccers. Then I got older and had less money and time for gaming, so for years I had to envy people getting to play their games.
Then we get the announcement of those remasters which was not a massive head turner because these were the games I bought the PS2 for so wasn't that interested. But that made me hope that I may get an opportunity to play some of their games again in the future.
Well the remasters released and now I really don't care either way if they bother putting anything else on a nintendo console. RIP Rockstar
What state is the GTA Trilogy in on Switch these days? Did they ever fix it beyond one patch?
Glad I bought the Saints Row games instead to scratch that gameplay itch.
For me personally honestly that's fine, I have played those games more than enough and have no desire to revisit them and prefer to enjoy new experiences these days, that being said it is a bummer for anyone who has yet to play them.
I don’t need remasters personally; straight up ports of RDR / GTA would suffice.
Red Dead Redemption's engine is a beast from what I have heard. The original PC port in early 2010s was scrapped due to its inflexibility, so they would have to rebuild the first game from scratch. It can be played on Xbox, even with all the up-conversion, it's still showing its age.
GTA IV was a beast too, but it did manage to come to PC. On the upside, it can be played on Xbox and PS Now, but it's looking old.
Does anyone know what the current situation is with the GTA trilogy? I know there were some patches which really improved things, but I don't know to what extent.
Some definite time machine action going on there... If they're able to go back a few years and take RDR and GTAIV off the table, perhaps they should have blown up the table with the trilogy on it.
Coming from someone with little experience of the series, do people actually like GTA4?
Despite being ranked as one of the best games of all time in metacritic, I don't think I've ever heard a single person say a positive thing about it.
next time get a better developer for your remasters Rockstar
@Buizel One of the main reasons why people thought GTA4 was overrated can be summed up in four words: "Cousin, let's go bowling".
I'm referring, of course, to Roman Bellic. The greatest video gaming burden since Slippy.
@RupeeClock To be fair, even XC:DE wasn't done by the A-team. It was the first project of a brand new Monolith studio. Like, the A-Team wasn't completely absent, but they were focused mainly on XC3 at the time.
The only one I can think of that was done by the main team was Wind Waker HD, and that's solely because it was a way to experiment with hardware.
The GTA Trilogy would have sold even better if it hadn't been a buggy, rushed mess. That's certainly why I've stayed away from it.
If they would have remastered them like they did GTA 3, SA and VC then its better they scrapped it... I hope one day companies will make good remasters that do respecting the originals.
Good. Enough with all these remasters already. Make new games.
A rumour that a rumour is no longer rumoured.
Totally fine with me. People could always ya know, go play the games that haven't even been out long enough to need a remaster and $60 price tag again?
That said RDR is one of the best games ever (even if 2 sucked). One of the few games I 100%d. Plus Undead Nightmare expansion was among the best ever.
Have they been fixing GTA on Switch? Wouldn't mind heading to Los Santos.
GTA IV on Switch sounds great in theory, but based on the Trilogy, I can only assume that such a release will be shipped in a compromised state, with a mandatory download and lofty patches.
Meanwhile, the PS2 and PSP GTA games are complete and playable on disc. No downloads required. I’m so sick of customers being content with settling for less, and greedy publishers gleefully capitalising on that fact.
It’s such a shame because I loved L.A. Noire, but it sucks to hell as a physical product, which I was fortunately able to grab new at a low price (albeit reluctantly), and I’ll still consider grabbing the GTA Trilogy too, but not to the insulting sum of AU$80.
@Abeedo it’s back compatible on Xbox.
It almost like some read something on another website and published a article. I am not sure how a decision made a few years ago was effected by the performance of a GTA trilogy release not so long ago. Taking about performance like many others in the comments any update regarding the current situation with the Nintendo Switch GTA trilogy? Yes it was duff on release but has it improved any in the time since.
I can practically taste the salt in this comment section.
Choose a better dev next time Rockstar for your future remastered, those Grove Street guys ain't doing the job very well. At least we know the Max Payne remakes won't get butcher since the original dev (Remedy Entertainment) will be handling them.
That's a shame, been dying to replay RDR1 for years. It's one of those comfy as hell games that I enjoyed greatly.
I mean if they would be handled as poorly as that Trilogy I think this was probably the right call so that their usual quality isn't dragged through the mud any further.
I have both on the Xbox so not super broken up about it but it is unfortunate. Would totally buy both if they were decent.
That said could they at least patch how the improved framerate makes GTA4 unbeatable due to requiring a superhuman rate of button tapping in the last mission?
That’s a shame. Since I’ve never played either, I’d love a Red Dead Collection/Remake & a Bully Remake from Rockstar on Switch.
… Wun can only hope.
What a shame, RDR1 was such a great game:( I would love to play it on Switch!
Damn. I don't really care about GTA, but I LOVE RDR.
"Poor reception"? Poor product is the reality. The fact that those piles of trash sold 10 million copies indicates a spectacular reception.
Slightly of topic, but did you know that the games are now running pretty nicely on the Switch? I booted up San Andreas the other week and was pleasantly surprised. There are still some weird changes, like how the rhythm games (dancing and lowriders) have barely any connection to the actual music anymore, but it runs smooth and looks nice and the most egregious character remodels have been re-remodelled back to non-horrorshow status.
On principle I wouldn't recommend anyone buy these versions anymore, but if you already bought them and gave up in disgust, you might want to have another try sometime.
They need to port GTA IV to modern consoles. It's insane that it's still locked on PS3 and 360.
Sidenote: the reason GTA trilogy failed so bad is because Grove Street games used to be warhog games and they handled the very bad android versions of the games too. They fail at everything they do yet rockstar keeps hiring them.
Just port GTA V? Forget the back catalogue. Especially after the last remaster debacle. I appreciate IV was very good, but still. Would have absolutely loved a Witcher 3 standard port of Red or Dead Redemption series. Don't make me dream like this.
Not bothered at all about GTA IV but would have loved a RDR1 remake… damn
This rumoured rumour, which is rumoured to be a rumour is rumoured to not be happening. ***** me, life's too short of this *****.
A port of Red Dead Redemption would've been nice.
Not sure about GTA IV, but I think that a RDR 1 remaster would sell like crazy.
GTAIV, I couldn't care less about.
A remaster of RDR on the other hand I would have loved. Even more so due to the fact that R* made RDR2 such a chore to play I gave up and have no desire to ever go back to it.
That’s too bad. RDR1 is one of my favorite gaming memories. The part where you cross over into Mexico for the first time and that Jose Gonzales song plays while you ride your horse blew my mind the first time I played it. I was fully submersed in that game. I hooked up the old 360 a couple years ago and gave it another exteremly enjoyable play through. Wouldn’t think twice about forking over full price to have it on the switch, even just as a straight port.
That would be a dream, I would love a double pack of gta4 and RDR1! Phenomenal games! How could they scrap it for the failure of the trilogy which they screwed themselves with lazy effort and that’s what turned people off,not the games.
Thank God it's just a rumor! Red Dead Redemption just released today!
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